Patent company joins Siri dust-up

RPI adds Marathon Patent Group to ring in fight against Apple

Larry Ruliso, Times Union

By Larry Rulison

Published 10:44 pm, Monday, July 28, 2014

Apple's Siri is asked if it was created at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Monday afternoon, July 28, 2014, at the Times Union in Colonie, N.Y. RPI's lawsuit against Apple over Siri took interesting turn after the company that owned the patent's rights was sold to a public company.(Will Waldron/Times Union)

Apple's Siri is asked if it was created at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Monday afternoon, July 28, 2014, at the Times Union in Colonie, N.Y. RPI's lawsuit against Apple over Siri took interesting turn after the company that owned the patent's rights was sold to a public company.(Will Waldron/Times Union)

RPI had also been joined in the lawsuit by a Dallas-based company known as Dynamic Advances that had bought the executive license for the technology from RPI several years ago.

Dynamic Advances was controlled through a family foundation by Erich Spangenberg and his wife, Audrey. He is a well-known patent litigator who also runs the patent monetization firm IPNav, also based in Dallas.

Although Spangenberg is one of the most high-profile patent lawyers in the country — he is sometimes called a "patent troll" by his critics — he recently sold Dynamic Advances, including the RPI license, to an Alexandria, Va., public company called Marathon Patent Group.

Spangenberg called the patent licenses he sold off "important assets with potential significant value," in a statement, although it's unclear how much the suit could command if successful.

It appears that RPI and Marathon believe they stand to make tens of millions of dollars. The transaction included $11 million in cash, as well as about $4 million in stock — and includes potentially lucrative payouts in the future if the lawsuit against Apple is successful.

In conjunction with the acquisition, Marathon raised $6.5 million in a stock sale, giving it even more firepower in its legal fight against Apple.

"We anticipate the patent assets we acquired will contribute meaningfully to Marathon's revenues and earnings and we have improved our balance sheet considerably with the closing of the financing," Marathon CEO Doug Croxall said in a statement.

The deal also shows how patent litigation, once pushed by shadowy law firms that tried to threaten companies with litigation as a way to monetize intellectual property, is being pushed into the realm of Wall Street and venture capital.

Spangenberg and his firm IPNav will still work with Marathon on the case as an adviser.

"The market is constantly changing, and we are confident we are working with a company that will be successful," Spangenberg said.